The present invention is directed to a room air conditioner, an more particularly to a room air conditioner having a conditioned air outlet having adjustable snap-on air deflectors.
Room air conditioners generally have an air inlet and an air outlet at a front side of the air conditioner which faces the interior of the room when the air conditioner is positioned in a window opening. Usually, warm air is drawn in through a central portion of the front panel to pass through a filter and through the evaporator coil to be cooled and then is directed by a blower or a fan to an outlet or outlets, also in the front panel. The outlet may be a single opening positioned along a top or bottom edge of the front panel or may be a single opening positioned at one side or the other of the front panel. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,149 air is drawn into the air conditioner unit through a lower front grille portion and is redelivered to the room through a grille portion which extends along the top edge of the air conditioner.
Regardless of the location of the air outlet, the air outlet openings are quite often provided with directional controls which may be in the form of louver members. Representative of the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,376 which discloses the use of a plurality of horizontally louvered discharge members which are mountable into and removable from an air conditioner and which pivot about a vertical axis to provide a range of directional air flows. U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,931 discloses a louvered air outlet assembly wherein the louvers are pivotable about both the horizontal and vertical axis. The louvers are also powered such that they will continuously rotate during operation so that chilled air will be directed in a sweep pattern horizontally and vertically. U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,406 discloses an adjustable louver assembly for a room air conditioner having pivotable horizontal and vertical louvers which are assembled as a module unit for attachment to or from discharge air conduit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide snap-on deflectors which are adapted to be easily mounted to or removed from a discharge louver assembly for a room air conditioner.
It is a further object to provide snap-on deflectors which are molded in a single piece.
It is a further object to provide a ganged air deflector assembly which utilizes no separate pins or fasteners, and, which may be optionally installed to a louver assembly with no pins or fasteners.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide such removable deflectors and cooperating louver assemblies such that no holes or pins are visible in the louver when the deflectors are not installed.